Power-loom



UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

wM. H. GRAY, OE DOVER, NEw HAMPSHIRE, ASSIGNOR To L; ROBINSON, OEMELROSE,

MASSACHUSETTS.

POWER-LO 0M.

Specification of Letters Patent N o.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, IVILLIAM H. GRAY, of Dover, in the county of Stratford and State of New Hampshire, have invented a new and useful Improvement in the Let-OE Motion of Power-Looms; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description of the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming part of this specification, in which- Figure l, is a back view of such parts of a loom as are necessary to illustrate my invention. Fig. 2, is a side view of the same. Fig. 3, is a plan of a portion of the let-off mechanism. Fig. 4, is a top view of a part of my invention that is partly concealed in Fig. 3.

Similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in the several figures.

My invention consists in certain improved means of governing the operation of the letoif mechanism, and the consequent delivery of the yarn from the beam, by the tension that is produced on the cloth by the take-up, whereby I am enabled to preserve a more uniform tension of the cloth and warp, and obtain all the advantages known to weavers to result from a uniform tension.

To enable others skilled in the art to make and use my invention I will proceed to describe its construction and operation.

A, is the framing of the loom.

B, is the yarn beam; C, the take-up roll; D, the lay;` G, the crank shaft, and F, F, the rods, connecting the lay with the crank shaft, all applied to the loom and arranged in the usual manner. The take-up roll may be operated in any well known or suitable manner, but I have shown it operated by a pawl a, and ratchet wheel ZJ, the said ratchet wheel being secured to a short shaft 7L, which works in a bearing in one of the side frames of the loom, and carries a pulley. c', from which a band a, runs to a pulley 7c, on the shaft of the take-'up roll, and the said pawl being carried by a lever Z, whose fulcrum is the shaft It, and which derives the necessary motion to work the pawlv from an arm m, that is attached to one side of the lay and that works in a slot m, in the lower part of the lever Z.

The yarn beam has secured to it, at one end, a worm gear d, which gears with an endless screw c, that is fast upon an upright shaft E, which works in bearings f, f, at-

26,8'75, dated January 17, 1860.

tached to the side framing of the loom. This shaft is permitted a limited amountof motion in the direction of its length, and has applied to it a spring g, which tends to force it upward and so to cause the threads of the endless screw c, to push against the teeth of the worm gear (l, in a direction to turn it backward or in the opposite direction to that in which it is required to move to let off the yarn, the said spring resting upon a collar j, that is fitted loosely to the shaft E, and supported by the forked shorter arm of a lever H, which is arranged on a fixed fulcrum o, supported by the loom framing, and whose longer arm carries a roller p, which rests against the bottom of the yarn on the beam.

The above-described apparatus, in connection with the yarn beam, constitutes part of the subject matter of my Letters Patent, No. 24,602, but instead of fitting the shaft E, with a clutch deriving motion from the cam shaft of the loom to make it operate the yarn beam to effect the let-off as described in those Letters Patent, I propose to use the following contrivances I, is a wheel firmly secured to the shaft- E, below the lever H, and having ratchet teeth all around the margin of its upper side. J, is a horizontal lever fitted to work loosely upon the shaft E, above the wheel I, and carrying a pawl fw, to work in the teeth of the said wheel. This lever, represented detached in Fig. 4, and in its place in the other figures is connected by a-rod g, a -spring 1, and a strap s, with one of the swords of the lay, one end of the said rod being attached to the said lever, and the other end being fitted to slide in' an eye t, attached to the lay and provided with a fast but adjustable collar u, behind the said eye, and the attachment of the said rod to the lay beingby means of the spring and strap, the former of which has its rear end secured to the rod and its front end to the strap, and the strap being secured to the lay. The opposite arm of the lever J, to that which carries the pawl has an-inclined plane or beveled face o, on that side which presents itself in the opposite direction to that in which the lever has to move for its pawl to give motion to the wheel I, Said face receding from the lower to the upper part of the arm; and a fixed stop consisting of a round pin or other piece presenting a narrow surface, is attached to the framing of the loom in such a position that the said face will come in contact with it as the lever J, moves in a direction to draw the pawl over the teeth of the wheel I. The lever J, is caused by its connection with the lay to move back and forth around the shaft E. In its movement in one direction the pawl engages with the' teeth of the wheel I, and so turns the said wheel and its shaft E, and causes the endless screw e, to turn the worm-wheel d, and so to turn the yarn beam to let off the yarn, and in moving in the other direction the said pawl passes over the teeth of the wheel I, till the face o, comes in contact-with the stop a2, and the movement is arrested. Any degree of tension of the warp tends to turn the yarn beam to make it let off the yarn, and this action of the warp on the beam causes the teeth of the gear d, to press downward against the thread of the screw e,

and so to depress the shaft E, and its wheel I, and lever J, in opposition to the action of the spring g, which tends to raise them, and hence the said wheel I, and lever J, occupy a higher or lower position according as the tension is less or greater. When the said wheel and lever are caused to rise with the shaft by a decrease of tension, they present a more prominent portion of the face o, of the lever opposite the stop and thus allow the pawl lw, to pass over fewer teeth of the wheel I, before it is stopped, and hence when the pawl returns to move the wheel, it lets off less yarn, or, if the tension is very slight, the pawl may be prevented from moving over any of the teeth; but when the wheel and lever are depressed by an increased tension the lever presents a less prominent part of the face o, opposite the stop and the pawl is caused to pass over more teeth, and hence it will be seen that the let-olf is always in proportion to the tension. It will be observed that though the movement of the lever J, varies, the movement of the lay is always the same; and it is to permit the variable movement of the lever that the rod g, is connected with the lay by the spring 1", and strap s, which yield to the pull of the lay after the face fv, comes in contact with the stop The backward movement of the said rod g, by which the pawl is made to act on the wheel I, is effected by the eye t, on the lay, pushing against the collar u, on the rod. By shifting this collar along the rod the let-od may be varied.

The lever H, operates in the same manner and for the same purpose as the corresponding lever described in my Letters Patent hereinbefore referred to, but I have now applied the roller p, in such a manner as to have a firm long bearing against the yarn on the yarn beam, and yet to adapt itself to unevenness in the surface of the yarn, is to say I have fitted its journals y, y, to bearings in a frame go', which is furnished with journals a, e, at right angles to y, y, to fit to bearings in the end of the lever. The frame p, being free to oscillate in the lever enables the roller to adapt itself to the surface of the yarn.

Instead of having the inclined face fv, on the lever, the stop may have a similar inclined face, and the arm of the lever may be in the form of a round pin or of other form which presents a narrow face. This modification, it VYwill be readily understood, is an equivalent of the inclined face on the lever, and the narrow faced stop m.

The principal advantage of the use of the to'thed wheel I, lever J, pawl w, inclined face o, and stop over the use of the friction clutch, described in my Letters Patent hereinbefore referred to, consists in their having a more positive action,'as` a, friction clutch is always more or less uncertain in its operation where it is subject to the liability of becoming oiled, which is unavoidable in such application of it.

I do not claim the use of a toothed Wheel like the wheel I, on a vertical shaft, and a pawl and lever fitted to the said shaft to operate the said wheel for the purpose of effecting the let off, when such lever is used without the stop and inclined face, or their equivalent, for varying the let off according to the tension of the yarn. But

What I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. The employment in combination with an upright vshaft E, geared with the yarn beam, and a spring applied to thesaid shaft to act upon it longitudinally in opposition to the tension of the warp, substantially as herein described, of a wheel I, a lever J, carrying a pawl w, and having an inclined facet, and a Xed stop or their equivalents, the whole applied and operating substantially as and for the purpose herein specified.

2. Attaching the roller p, to the lever I-I, by means of an oscillating frame p, substantially as and for the purpose herein described. l

3. Thejrod g, furnished with a collar a, the spring r, and the strap s, applied in combination with each other,and with the lay and the peculiarly constructed lever J, substantially asand for the purpose herein specified.

WM. H. GRAY.

that 

